The Year 1989 – The End of Communism in Poland The Year 1989 – The End of Communism in Poland Created on Tuesday, 23 August 2011 08:03 Written by: Dudek Antoni Tags: European Network Remembrance and Soldiarity, 1989, End of Communism, Poland, Solidarity Movement The wave of strikes in the summer of 1980 and its consequence, the birth of NSZZ Solidarity started the deepest phase of the crisis of the communist state in Poland. The economic crisis, growing since 1976, had led to a destabilisation of the political system based on hegemonic position of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) in 1980. The creation of NSZZ Solidarity and its over year long period of legal functioning significantly altered the social awareness, a change which could no longer be reversed by the so-called politics of normalisation, which began after the introducing of martial law in Poland in December 1981.

The banning of Solidarity and the pacification of civil protests, which peaked on the 31st of August 1982 when demonstrations of supporters of the union took place in 66 cities, had not stopped the economic, social and political changes which put the People's Republic of Poland (PRL) in a state of chronic crisis and, after a change of the international situation, led to its downfall. Below I will try to enumerate the most important factors which, in my opinion, made the crisis grow and, in consequence, led to the breakdown of the system in 1989. 1. Changes in the USSR. This factor appeared last, only after the proclamation of the politics of perestroika by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986 but has to be mentioned first as it played a crucial role in inclining the team of general Wojciech Jaruzelski to begin changes in the political system, which, eventually, led to its complete breakdown.

In July 1986, during a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev said, that the countries of Middle and Eastern Europe “can no longer be carried on our back. The main reason – the economy”. This meant that in the Kremlin opinion was prevalent, that the model of cooperation within the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, which was based on the transferable ruble, needed to be changed. The supply of petroleum and natural gas – the main export articles of the USSR – to the Comecon countries at set prices had no longer been profitable for the Soviet economy. It also was not a coincidence that one of Moscow's most important postulates after the government of Tadeusz Mazowiecki had been formed was the transition to USD as currency in mutual trade. Although the knowledge remains limited regarding the plans of the Soviet leadership in the second half of the 1980s, Andrzej Paczkowski was probably right to say that “Gorbachev did something like an amputation on the Brezhnev >Doctrine<, which lost its ideological sense and became more of a geopolitical rule.

The former pressure Moscow put on Warsaw subsided no later than 1987-1988 and was replaced by extensive conformity of intentions and actions”. General Wojciech Jaruzelski's team's hands were bound at that time as far as system reforms go, but that did not prevent it from using the Soviet deterrent in contacts with the West, the opposition and the Church until the end of its regime. French researcher Jacques Levesque even claims, that Jaruzelski for a long time was not using the freedom which Gorbachev had given him. 2. The state of the economy. Although in 1983 economic growth was recorded for the first time in five years, it had not been the result of real changes in the economic system, but of the return of the economy to the old ruts, from which it had been removed first by Gierek's team's mistakes, later by the strikes of 1980-81 and finally by the militarisation of many companies and the economic sanctions undertaken by the Western countries against Poland.

Already in 1985 economic growth slowed down because, according to one of the party's analyses, “the material-resource barrier, […] resulting from insufficient national reserves and low import possibilities, became very apparent”. Repeated by Jaruzelski's team after the introduction of martial law, declarations that the continuation of economic reforms, which officially began in 1981, is needed, quickly proved to be propaganda fiction. As general Jaruzelski correctly observed in 1982: “A paradoxical phenomenon accompanies the reform: on the one hand the liberalisation of the rules governing the economy and on the other the rigor of martial law”. The rigor of martial law had not been the main reason why the introduction of a real reform of the inefficient economic system of PRL was a failure, however. In fact the system could not be reformed, what was made clear by the unrelenting resistance of the people governing the economy. The situation is well illustrated by the example of closing down 106 unions of state-owned companies in 1982 in a reform which brought in their place 103 unions, different only in name.

“Essentially there is no institutionalised force, which would comprehensibly introduce the reform into economic practice, there is no approach to the reform as a political-economic complex” - it was said in a lengthy analysis of the socio-political situation made in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ordered by general Czesław Kiszczak in May 1984. According to Władysław Baka, the government's representative for the reform, during the meetings of the Council of Ministers in July 1983 and June 1984 plans aiming to openly “thwart the reform” were forced. One of their main supporters was supposedly Deputy Prime Minister Zbigniew Messner, who argued that “brought to completion, the model of socio-economic reform outlined by minister Władysław Baka means in essence the change of socio-political system” i.e. the fall of socialism. The continuation of the reform was defended, according to Baka, by Jaruzelski, but he changed his mind a year later on a National Council in Poznań and supported Messner's limited option instead.

After a couple of months, in November 1985, the latter became Prime Minister and the office of government's representative for the reform was removed. Real reforms had not begun until 1988-89 when Mieczysław Rakowski's cabinet introduced regulations guaranteeing freedom of economic activity and liberalising the rules of sales with foreign countries. If the political system had not followed, Rakowski's reforms could have lead to the realisation of the so-called Chinese model of transformation, that is the introduction of market economy with the maintaining of authoritarian political system. 3. Instances of state privatisation. Compared to the general economic decay of the 1980s, the rise of the private sector in the economy was a curious occurrence. In the years 1981-1985 it had increased its production level by nearly 14% while the production of the national sector decreased by 0,2%. Private enterprise was still highly limited, however, and many key members of the PZPR criticised the instances of “certain groups getting richer without grounds”.

However, gradually, especially in mid-level state apparatus, belief was getting stronger that without development of the private sector the deficit on the market of consumer goods could not be satisfied. The so-called Polonia (Polish diaspora) companies had a special position within the private sector. Foreigners of Polish descent were taking part in their establishment on the basis of the law from July 1982. “Polonia companies steal highly qualified cadre from the national sector. Some of the employees leave from foreign trade offices, they possess information which is a business and national secret. […] Cases of informal contacts with the employees of departments in charge of the Polonia companies are also frequent” - was the alert in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in May 1984. The Polonia companies became a sort of a testing ground for the authorities and especially for the secret service (both the SB and military). The behaviour of entities functioning within market mechanisms was tested and used in operational activities. What followed was a gradual acquaintance of part of the government elite with the thought of a need for radical breaking off with the economic system based on national property, originating in the 1940s.

In such a way a climate appropriate for the reforms of the Rakowski government was beginning to appear, with the side-effect of the process of so-called nomenclature enfranchisement. 4. Deregulation of the political system. Its main symptom became the weakening of the position of the PZPR, hitherto playing a hegemonic role in the political system of PRL. The crisis of the years 1980-1981 and the martial law left the PZPR with about 1 million members less. Only in the middle of the decade had the party stopped shrinking and the number of members stabilised at 2.1 million. The process of aging of the party had not been stopped however, and the proportion of people under 29 years of age decreased from the level of 15% in 1981 to only 6.9% in 1986, while the average age of a PZPR member raised to 46 years of age. A similar process began to threaten also the ranks of the party apparatus, over 12 thousand functionaries strong.

Personnel review of the members of Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party from 1984 showed that in the years 1985-1986 as many as 23% of its employees would reach retirement age. At the same time only 6% of over six hundred political employees of the Central Committee were younger than 35 years of age. The communist party was becoming old and was losing its influence, becoming less of a core of the political system and more of a tool of various pressure groups operating within the government apparatus. The most important of these groups was a part of the officers' corps of the Armed Forces. In the first year of martial law 32 officers were delegated to high positions in the party apparatus, and 88 more to national administration. Among them were 11 Ministers and Deputy Ministers, 13 voivodes and vice-voivodes and 9 secretaries of the Executive Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party. Furthermore 108 “lawyers in uniforms” were delegated to work in the prosecution service and civil judiciary.

Besides the military men the role of higher functionaries of the Security Service (SB) and other people working in the economy apparatus also increased in the 1980s. All of them were obviously members of the PZPR but in reality often opposed many decisions and solutions forced by the functionaries of the PZPR apparatus. The leaders of the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (OPZZ) were also members of the communist party. The Alliance was supposed to replace Solidarity in public consciousness. For this to happen, the leaders of the PZPR had decided, that leaders of the OPZZ had to receive a much wider autonomy than all the other socio-political organisations were given before, including the allied parties United People's Party and the Democratic Party. “We must include different opposing elements from the party itself […] controlling us from our system positions, constantly stinging us in our bottoms” - said general Jaruzelski about OPZZ in December 1986.

Still, OPZZ with nearly 7 million members, in time became a force, which, especially in the late 1980s, contributed significantly to the limiting of the level of control of the PZPR over state apparatus and especially over the part, which governed the economy. 5. Evolution of social moods. After the introducing of martial law, the social moods became relatively stable. In 1983 nearly 40% of pollees believed that the economic situation would become better, 8% that it would become worse and the rest, over 50%, thought that it would remain the same or did not have an opinion. This state of a kind of waiting began to change in the middle of the decade in a direction very unfavourable for the authorities. While in December 1985 46% of the pollees described the economic situation as bad, in the following months the figure grew quite consistently: 55% in April, 58.5% in December 1986 and as much as 69.1% in April 1987.

In the following months it was becoming even worse and that significantly affected the consciousness of the elite of the authorities. A team of three general Jaruzelski's advisors, the Secretary of the Central Committee of the PZPR Stanisław Ciosek, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Władysław Pożoga and the government spokesperson Jerzy Urban wrote in a memorial in January 1988 this about the matter: “The moods are below the red line, which means the critical point of explosion has been passed. There is no explosion because the tendencies are suppressed in the society by various stabilisers (historic experience, mainly of the 13th of December 1981, the role of the Church, lower influence of the opposition, apathy)”. The assessment was that such a state affected the authorities in a bad way and part of the apparatus “as usual in decadent times, begins to question the leadership, plot intrigues, plan future personal configurations. In time it will begin to plot”. It was therefore proposed to “make a drastic turn, in which there would be few words, many actions”. Ultimately such a turn of action, in the form of the Round Table Talks, happened a year later.

According to Mirosława Marody “three types of experiences of the broadest social reach” were making the mood worse. The first was increasing inflation devaluing “life's work of individuals and their families”. The second was the “feeling of disproportion between the effort put into achieving and keeping a decent standard of living and its effects”. Its main source were the persistent problems with supplies (especially manufactured goods) and that created a stark contrast with not only the situation in the Western countries but also with often visited Soviet Bloc countries. The third experience generating social frustration according to Marody was “the belief that methods of action offered to the individuals by the system lead to nowhere”. This affected mainly the young and the broadly understood intelligentsia, most severely affected by the apathy increasing during the 1980s. 6. Church and political opposition activity. In the 1980s, in front of the eyes of the PRL's authorities, the Catholic Church turned from their main opponent into an important factor stabilising social mood.

That is why, not abandoning various behind-the-stage actions aimed against the clergy, of which the kidnapping and killing of the priest Jerzy Popiełuszko by SB functionaries became a symbol, the leadership of the PZPR in practice accepted the unprecedented rise of the Church's potential which took place in the 1980s. It was apparent both in record-breaking number of new priests and temples built (according to government data in 1986 over three thousand churches were being built) as well as in quick development of Catholic press and publishing houses. In the middle of the decade there were 89 Catholic periodicals, with circulation of 1.5 million. Politics of the authorities regarding the founding of new churches and Clubs of Catholic Intellectuals had also been liberalised. Additionally, Church structures played a dominant role in the distribution of charity aid from the West, while its substantial amount constantly worried the authorities. The authorities expected that the liberal course would bring gradual increased acceptance of the system by the clergy. But the double dealing of the Church hierarchy, calculated for parallel dialogue with the authorities and discreet support of the moderate part of the opposition, disoriented Jaruzelski's team.

They knew that the support of the Church would be necessary to introduce the system reform plans maturing since the middle of the decade but they could not determine to what extent the bishops would be willing to endorse them, nor how far they identified themselves with the aims of the opposition. Meanwhile, the opposition, despite its weakness apparent in the middle of the decade, became a constant factor generating resistance against the system. In late 1985 the Ministry of the Interior assessed that there were over 350 different opposition structures in Poland, over half of them active in the area of just 5 of the 49 then existing voivodeships: Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdańsk, Kraków and Łódź. According to the SB its hard core was 1.5 thousand people while over 10 thousand worked as distributors of newspapers, messengers and printers. The number of “active sympathisers” was estimated to be 22 thousand people, what would give in total “about 34 thousand people directly involved, to a larger or lesser extent, in illegal activity”. This opposition was divided into different groups opposing each other, but generally fitted into one of two categories, differing in their attitude to the PRL authorities.

While the radical category, in which Fighting Solidarity created in 1982 by Kornel Morawiecki had the most potential, wanted to organise a general strike and overthrow the regime in a revolution, the moderate category, gathered around Lech Wałęsa and Temporary Coordinating Commission of Independent Self-governing Trade Union Solidarity assumed that the deteriorating economic situation and pressure from the West would finally force Jaruzelski's team to begin talks with the opposition. From the point of view of the authorities it was important for the moderate group to be stronger than the radical one and when, in 1988, the leadership of the PZPR finally decided to talk with Wałęsa and his collaborators, the opposition radicals turned out to be too weak to stop the Round Table Talks and later to boycott the contractual parliamentary elections in June 1989. Prof. Antoni Dudek (born 1966) – political scientist, deals mainly with recent Polish political history. Member of the Council of the Institute of National Remembrance.

related content Poland: Solidarity -- The Trade Union That Changed The World Poland: Solidarity -- The Trade Union That Changed The World August 24, 2005 Lech Walesa (left) with former Solidarity activist Bogdan Lis Share Print The strike that changed the world began around dawn on 14 August 1980. Some 17,000 workers seized control of the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk to protest, among other things, a recent rise in food prices. Their leader, Lech Walesa, had narrowly avoided arrest by secret police that morning, and had managed to scale the shipyard gate and join the workers inside. Soon, workers in 20 other area factories joined the strike in solidarity. Seventeen days later, after negotiations with Poland's Communist government, the burly, mustachioed Walesa appeared before the workers in the shipyard with an historic message: "We have an independent, self-governing trade union!

[crowd cheers] We have the right to strike!" Walesa and Poland's first deputy prime minister, Mieczyslaw Jagielski, had signed a deal granting the workers their main demands: the right to organize freely and to strike. Those were rights accorded under conventions by the International Labor Organization, of which Poland was a signatory. But this was the first time that any Communist government had put them into practice. Solidarity's underground efforts were also greatly aided by financial help from American trade unions, as well as moral support from Pope John Paul II. The workers had other demands, such as better wages and benefits, posted in a list of "21 postulates" on the shipyard door. But none was as crucial as the right to organize and strike. Radek Sikorski, a former deputy foreign and defense minister of postcommunist Poland, was a high school student at the time of the Gdansk accord. He recalled the famous day in an interview with RFE/RL. "[There was] tremendous hope and a kind of electricity between people.

You know, it's said that we Poles become a nation once a generation, just like we did recently when the pope died, and that was one of those moments when, suddenly, millions of people felt that they wanted the same thing, which was free trade unions to represent them against the [Communist] Party. It gave people hope that perhaps communism could be reformed. We now know that it couldn't," Sikorski said. In September 1980, the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union Solidarity -- or NSZZ Solidarnosc -- was officially formed. Over the next 15 months, the union's membership grew from 1 million to 9 million people -- a quarter of the country's population. But across the Russian border, Poland's Soviet masters were growing increasingly alarmed. And in early December 1981, the Warsaw Pact issued a statement at a summit in Moscow stating "fraternal solidarity and support" with Poland's communist leaders in overcoming what it called the country's "present difficulties." Days later, on 13 December, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, the Polish prime minister, declared martial law and outlawed Solidarity.

The military, in a plan hatched over the previous months, arrested most of Solidarity's leaders, including Walesa. Walesa would spend nearly a year in jail. And for the next seven years, he would be under constant watch and harassment by secret police. When he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, he sent his wife to collect the award in Oslo, fearing he would not be let back into the communist country. In the long, dark period leading up to the radical changes of 1989, Solidarity worked in the underground. But, as Sikorski recalls, it never wavered from one its key principles -- nonviolence. "It was a peaceful movement which actually realized all its objectives and more. So I think the path of nonviolence is certainly an important Solidarity legacy. And if you look at what happened in other countries -- in the Czech Republic, and more recently in Serbia or in Ukraine -- that message has been successfully imitated," Sikorski said. Solidarity's underground efforts were also greatly aided by financial help from American trade unions, as well as moral support from Pope John Paul II.

The pope published a major text -- the encyclical "On Human Work" -- and met with Walesa in 1983 for talks that made international headlines. Both acts, as well as the strategic partnership between the Polish Catholic Church and Solidarity, lent powerful legitimacy to the movement. Bronislaw Geremek, now a member of the European Parliament, was one of the leading intellectuals of the Solidarity movement. In an interview with RFE/RL, Geremek noted that Solidarity's success was a result of a "new human relationship" in Polish society among church leaders, workers, farmers and intellectuals. "One should see this phenomenon in the larger context. This context is first of all the lesson of the 1979 visit of Pope John Paul to Poland. Not only the message of John Paul -- ‘Don't be afraid,' which was a very powerful message -- but also the experience of the organization of the pope's visit. The organization was assured, in all cities in which the pope paid a visit, by civilians -- by a special guard formed by workers, people from the intelligentsia -- [who were] able to organize themselves," Geremek said.

Further moral support came from Western governments, in particular the United States and Britain, which along with international agencies refused to grant debt-ridden Poland economic aid until it legalized Solidarity. The movement got a major morale boost in November 1988, when Jaruzelski hosted British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. A fierce anticommunist, Thatcher lashed out at Jaruzelski at a state banquet, saying Poland's depressed economy would improve only after freedom and liberty were restored. She also visited outlawed Solidarity's leaders in Gdansk, telling 5,000 workers: "Nothing can stop you." And at a dinner with union leaders, Britain's "Iron Lady" urged them to forge a practical plan to freedom. "How do you see the process from where you are now to where you want to be? Because whatever you want to do, it's not only what you want to do, but how, in a practical way, you see it coming about," Thatcher said. But the reality was that Solidarity, and Polish society, had already found their way. Faced with intense social and economic pressure, Jaruzelski finally agreed to talks with Solidarity in early 1989.

Two months later, after historic roundtable talks, the two sides signed a 400-page agreement on sweeping political and economic reforms that officially recognized Solidarity. In June 1989, in the first free elections ever in the communist bloc, Solidarity won the maximum number of seats allowed in both houses of parliament. And with two smaller parties, it formed the first non-Communist government in the Soviet bloc. Six months later, the Berlin Wall came crumbling down. See also: Solidarity | Polish organization | Britannica.com Polish organization Alternative Titles: Independent Self-Governing Trade Union Solidarity, Niezależny Samorząd Związków Zawodowych Solidarność, Solidarność Related Topics Lech Wałęsa Solidarity, Polish Solidarność, officially Independent Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarity” or Polish Niezależny Samorza̡d Związków Zawodowych “Solidarność”, Polish trade union that in the early 1980s became the first independent labour union in a country belonging to the Soviet bloc.

Solidarity was founded in September 1980, was forcibly suppressed by the Polish government in December 1981, and reemerged in 1989 to become the first opposition movement to participate in free elections in a Soviet-bloc nation since the 1940s. Solidarity subsequently formed a coalition government with Poland’s United Workers’ Party (PUWP), after which its leaders dominated the national government. Polish demonstrators carrying banners with the name of the trade union Solidarność … Peter Turnley/Corbis The origin of Solidarity traces back to 1976, when a Workers’ Defense Committee (Komitet Obrony Robotników; KOR) was founded by a group of dissident intellectuals after several thousand striking workers had been attacked and jailed by authorities in various cities. The KOR supported families of imprisoned workers, offered legal and medical aid, and disseminated news through an underground network. In 1979 it published a Charter of Workers’ Rights. During a growing wave of new strikes in 1980 protesting rising food prices, Gdańsk became a hotbed of resistance to government decrees.

Some 17,000 workers at the Lenin Shipyards there staged a strike and barricaded themselves within the plant under the leadership of Lech Wałęsa , an electrician by trade. In mid- August 1980 an Interfactory Strike Committee was established in Gdańsk to coordinate rapidly spreading strikes there and elsewhere; within a week it presented the Polish government with a list of demands that were based largely on KOR’s Charter of Workers’ Rights. On August 31, accords reached between the government and the Gdańsk strikers sanctioned free and independent unions with the right to strike, together with greater freedom of religious and political expression. Similar Topics National Labor Union (NLU) Solidarity formally was founded on September 22, 1980, when delegates of 36 regional trade unions met in Gdańsk and united under the name Solidarność. The KOR subsequently disbanded, its activists becoming members of the union, and Wałęsa was elected chairman of Solidarity. A separate agricultural union composed of private farmers, named Rural Solidarity (Wiejska Solidarność), was founded in Warsaw on December 14, 1980.

By early 1981 Solidarity had a membership of about 10 million people and represented most of the work force of Poland. Polish labour activist Lech Wałęsa representing the trade union Solidarity shortly … Stock footage courtesy The WPA Film Library Throughout 1981 the government (led by General Wojciech Jaruzelski ) was confronted by an ever stronger and more demanding Solidarity, which inflicted a series of controlled strikes to back up its appeals for economic reforms, for free elections, and for the involvement of trade unions in decision making at the highest levels. Solidarity’s positions hardened as the moderate Wałęsa came to be pressured by more militant unionists. Jaruzelski’s government, meanwhile, was subjected to severe pressure from the Soviet Union to suppress Solidarity. On December 13, 1981, Jaruzelski imposed martial law in Poland in a bid to crush the Solidarity movement. Solidarity was declared illegal, and its leaders were arrested. The union was formally dissolved by the Sejm (Parliament) on October 8, 1982, but it nevertheless continued as an underground organization.

In 1988 a new wave of strikes and labour unrest spread across Poland, and prominent among the strikers’ demands was government recognition of Solidarity. In April 1989 the government agreed to legalize Solidarity and allow it to participate in free elections to a bicameral Polish parliament. In the elections, held in June of that year, candidates endorsed by Solidarity won 99 of 100 seats in the newly formed Senate (upper house) and all 161 seats (of 460 total) that opposition candidates were entitled to contest in the Sejm (lower house). In August Solidarity agreed to form a coalition government with the PUWP, and a longtime Solidarity adviser, Tadeusz Mazowiecki , on August 24 became the first noncommunist premier to govern Poland since the late 1940s. In December 1990 Wałęsa was elected president of Poland after splitting with Mazowiecki in a dispute over the pace of Poland’s conversion to a market economy.

The split between Wałęsa and Mazowiecki prevented the formation of a Solidarity-backed coalition to govern the country in the wake of the PUWP’s collapse, and the union’s direct role in Poland’s new parliamentary scene dwindled as many new political parties emerged in the early 1990s. Learn More in these related articles: Poland: Solidarity -- The Trade Union That Changed The World Poland: Solidarity -- The Trade Union That Changed The World August 24, 2005 Lech Walesa (left) with former Solidarity activist Bogdan Lis Share Print The strike that changed the world began around dawn on 14 August 1980. Some 17,000 workers seized control of the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk to protest, among other things, a recent rise in food prices. Their leader, Lech Walesa, had narrowly avoided arrest by secret police that morning, and had managed to scale the shipyard gate and join the workers inside. Soon, workers in 20 other area factories joined the strike in solidarity.

Seventeen days later, after negotiations with Poland's Communist government, the burly, mustachioed Walesa appeared before the workers in the shipyard with an historic message: "We have an independent, self-governing trade union! [crowd cheers] We have the right to strike!" Walesa and Poland's first deputy prime minister, Mieczyslaw Jagielski, had signed a deal granting the workers their main demands: the right to organize freely and to strike. Those were rights accorded under conventions by the International Labor Organization, of which Poland was a signatory. But this was the first time that any Communist government had put them into practice. Solidarity's underground efforts were also greatly aided by financial help from American trade unions, as well as moral support from Pope John Paul II. The workers had other demands, such as better wages and benefits, posted in a list of "21 postulates" on the shipyard door. But none was as crucial as the right to organize and strike. Radek Sikorski, a former deputy foreign and defense minister of postcommunist Poland, was a high school student at the time of the Gdansk accord.

He recalled the famous day in an interview with RFE/RL. "[There was] tremendous hope and a kind of electricity between people. You know, it's said that we Poles become a nation once a generation, just like we did recently when the pope died, and that was one of those moments when, suddenly, millions of people felt that they wanted the same thing, which was free trade unions to represent them against the [Communist] Party. It gave people hope that perhaps communism could be reformed. We now know that it couldn't," Sikorski said. In September 1980, the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union Solidarity -- or NSZZ Solidarnosc -- was officially formed. Over the next 15 months, the union's membership grew from 1 million to 9 million people -- a quarter of the country's population. But across the Russian border, Poland's Soviet masters were growing increasingly alarmed.

And in early December 1981, the Warsaw Pact issued a statement at a summit in Moscow stating "fraternal solidarity and support" with Poland's communist leaders in overcoming what it called the country's "present difficulties." Days later, on 13 December, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, the Polish prime minister, declared martial law and outlawed Solidarity. The military, in a plan hatched over the previous months, arrested most of Solidarity's leaders, including Walesa. Walesa would spend nearly a year in jail. And for the next seven years, he would be under constant watch and harassment by secret police. When he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, he sent his wife to collect the award in Oslo, fearing he would not be let back into the communist country. In the long, dark period leading up to the radical changes of 1989, Solidarity worked in the underground. But, as Sikorski recalls, it never wavered from one its key principles -- nonviolence. "It was a peaceful movement which actually realized all its objectives and more. So I think the path of nonviolence is certainly an important Solidarity legacy.

And if you look at what happened in other countries -- in the Czech Republic, and more recently in Serbia or in Ukraine -- that message has been successfully imitated," Sikorski said. Solidarity's underground efforts were also greatly aided by financial help from American trade unions, as well as moral support from Pope John Paul II. The pope published a major text -- the encyclical "On Human Work" -- and met with Walesa in 1983 for talks that made international headlines. Both acts, as well as the strategic partnership between the Polish Catholic Church and Solidarity, lent powerful legitimacy to the movement. Bronislaw Geremek, now a member of the European Parliament, was one of the leading intellectuals of the Solidarity movement. In an interview with RFE/RL, Geremek noted that Solidarity's success was a result of a "new human relationship" in Polish society among church leaders, workers, farmers and intellectuals. "One should see this phenomenon in the larger context. This context is first of all the lesson of the 1979 visit of Pope John Paul to Poland.

Not only the message of John Paul -- ‘Don't be afraid,' which was a very powerful message -- but also the experience of the organization of the pope's visit. The organization was assured, in all cities in which the pope paid a visit, by civilians -- by a special guard formed by workers, people from the intelligentsia -- [who were] able to organize themselves," Geremek said. Further moral support came from Western governments, in particular the United States and Britain, which along with international agencies refused to grant debt-ridden Poland economic aid until it legalized Solidarity. The movement got a major morale boost in November 1988, when Jaruzelski hosted British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. A fierce anticommunist, Thatcher lashed out at Jaruzelski at a state banquet, saying Poland's depressed economy would improve only after freedom and liberty were restored. She also visited outlawed Solidarity's leaders in Gdansk, telling 5,000 workers: "Nothing can stop you." And at a dinner with union leaders, Britain's "Iron Lady" urged them to forge a practical plan to freedom. "How do you see the process from where you are now to where you want to be?

Because whatever you want to do, it's not only what you want to do, but how, in a practical way, you see it coming about," Thatcher said. But the reality was that Solidarity, and Polish society, had already found their way. Faced with intense social and economic pressure, Jaruzelski finally agreed to talks with Solidarity in early 1989. Two months later, after historic roundtable talks, the two sides signed a 400-page agreement on sweeping political and economic reforms that officially recognized Solidarity. In June 1989, in the first free elections ever in the communist bloc, Solidarity won the maximum number of seats allowed in both houses of parliament. And with two smaller parties, it formed the first non-Communist government in the Soviet bloc. Six months later, the Berlin Wall came crumbling down. See also: Solidarity Comes to Power | Making the History of 1989 Solidarity Comes to Power The Unique Experience of Romania Introduction In retrospect, it seems predictable that the first opposition group in the Soviet bloc to succeed in unseating a communist regime would be Poland’s Solidarity movement.

Discontent with economic hardships and the suppression of civil liberties had long been evident in Poland, erupting in workplace unrest and mass protests more frequently than anywhere else in Eastern Europe: 1956, 1968, 1970, 1976. In 1980, during yet another wave of strikes and demonstrations, the Solidarity trade union had been formed in the port city of Gdansk. It soon took on the character of a nation-wide opposition movement, attracting a membership numbering in the millions. But if this recent history demonstrated the depth and durability of hostility to the regime, it also seemed to demonstrate its futility. On every occasion, the regime had been able to use a combination of modest concessions and brute force to master the situation and re-confirm its monopoly on power. Even the unprecedented social support for Solidarity in 1980, which initially led the regime to recognize and make concessions to the union, could not prevent a subsequent crackdown. The imposition of martial law in December 1981 forced Solidarity into the role of an embattled underground movement.

It did, to be sure, maintain a significant following, and by the late 1980s, the now illegal trade union played a role in a new wave of strikes that broke out across the country. But opposition activists had to wonder: why would these protests end any differently than those the regime had successfully thwarted in the past? And yet a number of things had changed over the course of the 1980s. Perhaps the most obvious was the international context. Earlier crackdowns on dissent had been motivated not only by the Polish Communist Party’s interest in maintaining its own rule but also by concerns about the potential for Soviet intervention if Poland’s domestic situation was deemed to be getting out of hand. Indeed, the so-called Brezhnev Doctrine, named after the long-serving Soviet leader, proclaimed that Moscow was prepared to intervene militarily to prevent any threat of regime change in Eastern Europe, just as it had in response to radical reforms in Czechoslovakia in 1968. The emergence of Mikhail Gorbachev as General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party in 1985 suddenly changed the direction of the pressure that Moscow exerted on Eastern Europe.

Gorbachev and his allies were convinced that the greatest danger to the Soviet system was not dissent but inertia, and they saw a policy of openness (glasnost) as essential to spurring necessary changes. The Brezhnev Doctrine was now replaced by the Sinatra Doctrine, which positively encouraged Soviet satellite states to “do it their way” by experimenting with political and economic reforms. This change in signals from Moscow greatly strengthened the hand of moderates within Poland’s communist party, who believed that some accommodation with opposition groups was possible and desirable. Another factor spurring party reformers to reach out to Solidarity was a growing sense of urgency regarding the economy. In previous decades, the regime had been able to manage economic discontent with a mix of centralized planning (keeping the prices of staple goods artificially low) and selective opening to the Western market economy (borrowing heavily from Western governments and banks). But these expedients had only masked many of the economy’s underlying problems, not addressed them. More fundamental reforms, most experts had come to agree, would be necessary to overcome mounting inflationary pressures and lagging growth.

Since such bitter economic medicine was likely to inflame rather than calm popular discontent, party reformers believed it was crucial to achieve some kind of social consensus about the necessity of such measures. Rather than allowing Solidarity activists to continue criticizing from the sidelines, they argued, it would be smarter to make the opposition co-responsible for the unpopular but necessary economic policies to come. Convinced that engaging Solidarity would do more to tame the opposition than to empower it, party officials made a series of gestures to the still-outlawed movement. In November 1988, the leader of the official, party-affiliated trade union, Alfred Miodowicz, challenged the head of Solidarity, Lech Walesa, to a televised debate, expecting that the event would highlight the latter’s inexperience. Instead, Walesa succeeded in focusing attention on the past failures of the regime, casting Solidarity as a clear, untainted alternative. In February, when party officials and Solidarity representatives began the Round Table talks—an extended set of negotiations on political and economic questions—a similar tug-of-war developed over the agenda.

Representatives of the regime tried to emphasize commitment to a shared, “national” program of reforms, while Solidarity insisted on the introduction of trade union pluralism and genuine political competition. For opposition leaders, it was a delicate balancing act. If they demanded too much, party hardliners might call off the entire dialogue. If they were overly deferential, their grassroots supporters might feel betrayed and lose faith in their leaders. After two months of negotiation, a careful formula was worked out. Elections for a newly created Senate would be freely contested, as would 35 percent of the seats for the lower house of the legislature, the Sejm. This would give an unprecedented political voice to groups critical of the communist regime but guarantee the regime’s continued hold on power. What neither side counted on was the utterly lopsided outcome of the elections held in early June. Solidarity won every seat it was able to contest in the Sejm and 99 out of 100 seats in the Senate. In the aftermath of this landslide, the “guarantees” of the party’s continued hold on power suddenly looked very shaky.

Members of small satellite parties that had been in permanent coalition with the communist party spoke of refusing to support a communist candidate for prime minister or president. Opposition leaders, in turn, worried that such a drastic exclusion of the party from positions of power could incite hardliners—possibly aided by Poland’s Warsaw Pact neighbors, if not the USSR itself—to resort to a military crackdown. Anxious to avoid a deadlock and potential bloodshed, party reformists and Solidarity leaders negotiated an extraordinary compromise. The opposition accepted the election as president of Wojciech Jaruzelski, until then general secretary of the communist party, while Jaruzelski in turn named as prime minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, a Catholic intellectual and long-time Solidarity adviser. It was, like the negotiations preceding it, a complicated balancing act. But the outcome was nonetheless dramatic: the largest Soviet “satellite” in Eastern Europe now had a non-communist head of government. The months preceding this transfer of power provide a fascinating case study in what historian Timothy Garton Ash famously described as 1989’s “refolutions” (hybrids of “reform” and “revolution”).

As in other moments of dramatic historical change, the documentary record reveals the widespread sense of revolutionary upheaval, of long-held expectations being repeatedly overturned, of constant improvisation. And yet one also sees in the record of the era a determination—particularly among Solidarity activists, but also among reformist party members—to avoid the descent into violent confrontations that have characterized most revolutionary eras of the past. James Bjork Solidarność (Solidarity) brings down the communist government of Poland, 1988-89 | Global Nonviolent Action Database Solidarność (Solidarity) brings down the communist government of Poland, 1988-89 Time Period: Time period notes: Although Solidarnosc was engaged in struggle since the 1980 general strike, this case beginning with the April 1988 strikes is considered a separate campaign focused on broad economic and democratic reforms. 21 April View Location on Map Goals: Due to the complexity and size of Solidarity and the amount of labor organizing occurring during the campaign it’s difficult to define a definite list of goals.

However, throughout the campaign, the following demands were made on some scale: wage justice, the re-legalization of Solidarity and its invitation to work on economic reforms with the government, release of political prisoners, collective bargaining rights, safety and health regulations, rights to organize, and free elections. 182. Stay-in strike Notes on Methods: Limited information could be found regarding the details of different direct actions. More research is needed to report the full extent and depth of action taken. Also, the source 'The Encyclopedia of Solidarity' is only available in Polish. A loose translation was used for this report, but further study should be undertaken. Segment Length: members of the independent trade union Solidarity many others Lech Walesa, Tadeusz Mazowiecki Partners: Students of the Independent Students’ Association (NZS), bus drivers in Szczecin (it is not clear if this group was part of Solidarity) External allies: Solidarity received funds, equipment, and support from varied members of the international community including international solidarity organizations, U.S. President Ronald Reagan, the C.I.A., the Catholic Church, and Western trade unions such as the AFL-CIO.

While these actions were reported before the time period of this campaign, it seems the support affected the dynamics of this campaign, if not continued during it. More research needs to be done to determine what sort of economic and political sanctions were in place during the course of this campaign. Involvement of social elites: Joining/exiting order of social groups Groups in 1st Segment: the Independent Students’ Association (NZS) bus drivers in Szczecin Opponent, Opponent Responses, and Violence Opponents: Communist-party government and officials, the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) Nonviolent responses of opponent: Success in achieving specific demands/goals: 4 points out of 6 points Survival: 1 point out of 1 points Growth: 3 points out of 3 points Total points: 8 out of 10 points Notes on outcomes: Solidarity was extremely successful as an alternative social institution, ultimately displacing the communist party faction through popular elections and forming a Solidarity-led coalition government. However, it is less known from this research to what extent the economic demands regarding wage justice, collective bargaining, and right to organize were affected directly by the turnover in government.

The 4 out of 6 is largely to indicate the gap in research needed to determine the extent these other goals were addressed. In the late 1980’s, Poland was nearing the end of almost 40 years of postwar communism as part of the Soviet Eastern Bloc. Out of labor organizing earlier in the decade emerged Solidarność (Solidarity), the first non-communist party-controlled trade union federation in a Warsaw Pact country (see Polish workers general strike for economic rights, 1980 ). Shortly after the rise of Solidarity, the organization expanded into a larger social movement, appealing for economic reforms, free elections, and increased political participation of trade unions. By early 1981, Solidarity had a membership of over 10 million people that included almost 80% of the total workforce. That year Solidarity held its first national congress; Lech Walesa, a pivotal figure in the emergence of the union, was elected president.

In spring 1981, after some Solidarity members were beaten up by security forces as part of the Bydgoszcz events, Solidarity organized a four-hour warning strike in late March, involving over 12 million people and regarded as the largest strike in the history of the Soviet Bloc. That summer, in response to a worsening economy and food shortages, thousands of Poles participated in hunger demonstrations throughout the country. By late 1981, Solidarity announced plans for a strike in anticipation of government repression. Indeed, soon after the announcement, the government declared martial law and initiated a major crackdown. Mass arrests of Solidarity leaders followed; security forces arrested thousands of Solidarity members in the middle of the night. Censorship and military presence increased. Even still, hundreds of isolated strikes and occupations occurred throughout the country. In the midst of these actions, government forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing some and injuring many. By the end of December 1981, strikes had ended. On October 8, 1982, the government formally banned Solidarity, rendering the organization illegal. Solidarity was forced underground.

Anti-government protest demonstrations and strikes resumed throughout 1982, along with more killings of demonstrators. During its time underground, Solidarity received funds, equipment, and support from varied members of the international community including international solidarity organizations, U.S. President Ronald Reagan, the C.I.A., the Catholic Church, and Western trade unions such as the AFL-CIO. In December 1982, Security Forces carried out a large crackdown, arresting over 10,000 members and seizing the organization’s assets. By this time, the underground Solidarity had over 70,000 members and was publishing underground newspapers. During July 1983, martial law was lifted, and amnesty was granted to many imprisoned Solidarity members. However, heightened controls on civil and political life remained in place for years to come. It’s estimated that between 1981 and 1985, around 78 people were killed by police and security force action; thousands more were imprisoned, beaten, and harassed. On March 11, 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev assumed power in the Soviet Union, bringing a new generation of Soviet party members and political and economic reforms, affecting all Soviet satellites.

In late 1986, another group of Polish political prisoners were released, freeing most all Solidarity members arrested during the previous years. Shortly after, Lech Walesa helped create the Temporary Council of NSZZ Solidarność, the first legal Solidarity entity since martial law was declared. Many local Solidarity groups emerged from underground and a national committee was formed late 1987. Solidarity members and activists were still threatened with repression, but it marked a new era for the organization. Also around this time, a more radically anti-communist faction, Fighting Solidarity splintered from the leadership of Walesa. By 1988, Poland’s economy was in dire conditions. International sanctions and government unwillingness to introduce reforms compounded previous problems. In February, the government increased food prices by 40%. On April 21, a wave of strikes occurred throughout the country. They began in Stalowa Wola, with workers demanding higher wages and the end to the persecution of Solidarity. Strikes spread to the city transport department in Bydgoszcs, and later to iron and steel works in Nowa Huta; security forces and police responded with beatings and arrests.

Also on the 21st, several hundred students demonstrated at Wroclaw University in support of the trade unions and on behalf of the Independent Students’ Association (NZS), the student sub-organization of Solidarity formed in 1980, and also banned in 1981. At the end of April, Lech Walesa released a statement appealing to ruling authorities to negotiate, to the international trade union movement to offer support, and to governments of democratic countries to politically and economically oppose the injustices carried out by the Polish government. On the first day in May, demonstrations took place in several cities, leading to several dozen arrests. The next day, workers at the Gdańsk Shipyard began a sit-in strike. In addition to economic demands (wage increase) were added political demands concerning Solidarity, including the legal recognition of the organization and the release of political prisoners. Government forces broke the strike on May 10, after which Walesa and Solidarity leader, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, led a march to the Church of Saint Brygida. During the Gdańsk strike, on May 4, NZS supporters demonstrated at the Catholic University of Lublin. Action soon spread to other academic institutions and sectors of society.

For example, on June 22, bus drivers in Szczecin went on strike in support of labor leaders. On August 15, a mass strike was organized at the July Manifesto mine in Jastrzębie Zdrój, involving thousands; the strike lasted until September 3. By August 20, the strike had spread to many other mines and cities. Strikers chanted, ‘There’s no liberty without Solidarity!’ On the 17th, the Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee (Solidarity) released a list of demands including: the legalization of Solidarity, economic reforms, wage justice, collective bargaining rights, safety and health standards, and the right to organize. On August 22, the largest strike of the month began in Huta Stalowa Wola. Out of the strike grew a large demonstration of more than 20,000 people. The Gdańsk Shipyard joined the strike as well; soon strikes and protests were being held in the provinces of Warsaw, Gdansk, Katowice, Poznan, Wroclaw, Tarnobrzeg, and Walbrzych.

By late August, Poland’s communist government expressed a willingness to negotiate, as long as the strikes were stopped. On August 31, the eight anniversary of the original Gdansk Agreement, the Interior Minister formally received Lech Walesa for negotiations. Afterward, Walesa called an end to the strikes, claiming it an important step to the re-legalization of Solidarity. The strikes ended, although reluctantly by many strikers, over the next few days. Further action was stalemated over the next months as both government bodies and Solidarity representatives prepared for long-term negotiations. In fact in mid-September negotiations collapsed because Solidarity would not yield its demands for legalization and it rejected the authorities’ right to veto its selection of delegates to take part in roundtable talks. Some sympathetic actions did take place. In early October, signs were hung at Warsaw University supporting the legalization of Solidarity and recognition of NZS. Throughout the month, student organizing spread to other campuses, and included anti-military action. Early November, government authorities closed the Gdańsk Shipyard, which was seen as an insult to Solidarity and an attempt to crush morale. Thousands demonstrated against the decision.

Later that month, Lech Walesa scored a ‘public relations victory’ during a televised debate between him and a leader of the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (OPZZ), a pro-government trade union. In mid December, a hundred-member Citizens’ Committee was formed within Solidarity. It was made up of several sections, each related to a specific demand being made of the government. A majority of the Committee members advocated negotiation, whereas a minority wanted an anticommunist revolution and were open to the use of violence. On February 6, 1989, the Polish Round Table talks began, bringing members of Solidarity, OPZZ, priests, and communists party members together for negotiation. Throughout the talks, a number of opposition groups including NZS, the Confederation for an Independent Poland, and the Federation of Fighting Youth began a series of demonstrations in Krakow, which lasted a week before being broken up. In April 1989, the results of the negotiations were announced. The government agreed to legalize Solidarity and allow it to participate in free elections for Polish parliament. The government announced an economic plan, promised more freedom for the media, and ensured freedom of association. Elections were set for June 4.

Even though they had minimal resources Solidarity quickly organized an electoral campaign. In May, a series of Solidarity parades took place. The largest in Warsaw had nearly 100,000 participants. Rallies and marches were also held by Fighting Solidarity in several cities, advocating a boycott of the elections. On May 8, a new pro-Solidarity newspaper was started called the Gazeta Wyborcza (The Election Gazette) to support the Solidarity campaign. Strike actions also continued. In Lubinski, 35,000 copper miners organized a sit-in strike, demanding wage justice and a meeting with the minister of industry. In the elections that June, Solidarity candidates won 99 of the 100 seats in the newly formed Senate and all seats they were eligible to run for in the Sejm (lower house) (161 seats out of 460 total). The results came as a total surprise in comparison to pre-election polls. The total victory of Solidarity candidates in these elections would inspire a wave of nonviolent anti-communist revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe.

Later in June, the newly formed Solidarity Citizens' Parliamentary Club (Obywatelski Klub Parliamentarny "Solidarność") formed a coalition with parties formerly affiliated with the communist majority. For the first time, communist party members were outnumbered. On August 24, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, a Solidarity representative, was elected Prime Minister of Poland, who became the first non-communist prime minister in Eastern Europe for almost four decades. By the end of the month, a Solidarity-led coalition government was formed. In December 1990, Walesa was elected president. It was the end of the communist governmental system in Poland. Into the 1990s, Solidarity gradually lost its influence as a political party, but did become one of the largest trade unions in Poland. Solidarity’s example in 1989 influenced the spread of anti-communist ideas and organizing throughout the Eastern Bloc, weakening communist governments and ultimately causing them to fall. Research Notes Influences: During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Communist governments throughout Europe began to topple.

Solidarity’s success in 1989 in setting up the first non-Communist government in the Soviet Eastern Bloc inspired surrounding states to take similar action (see Soviet Bloc Independence Campaigns (1989-)). Sources: Ash, Timothy Garton. The Polish Revolution: Solidarity. 3rd ed. Yale University Press, 2002. Barker, Colin. "The rise of Solidarnosc." International Socialism Journal. Issue 108 (2005). < ?id=136&issue=108>. "Calendar." The Encyclopedia of Solidarity. Web. < ?title=SG_Kalendarium>. Paczkowski, Andrzej, and Jane Cave. The spring will be ours: Poland and the Poles from occupation to freedom. Penn State Press, 2003. "Pushing Back the Curtain: Poland." Communism The End of an Era, World New. BBC News. Web. 10 Sep 2011. < >. "Solidarity." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 09 Sep.

2011. < >. Wehr, Paul Ernest, Heidi Burgess, and Guy M. Burgess. Justice Without Violence. Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1994 Additional Notes: As was mentioned in the methods notes, limited information was found regarding the details of each direct action. More research is needed to report the full extent and depth of action taken. The source 'The Encyclopedia of Solidarity' is only available in Polish. A loose translation was used for this report, but closer study should be undertaken. It is expected that upon further study, more methods will be reported than represented here. Also, from this research it is unclear the dynamic between Solidarity and other organizations, including the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (OPZZ), the Independent Students’ Association (NZS), and others. Further study should evaluate how actions taken by different groups affected the goals and developments of Solidarity’s efforts. Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy: Zein Nakhoda, 10/9/2011 Poland History and Timeline Overview 2,300 - Early Bronze Age cultures settle in Poland. 700 - Iron is introduced into the region.

400 - Germanic tribes such as the Celts arrive. CE 1 - The region begins to come under the influence of the Roman Empire. 500 - Slavic peoples start to migrate into the area. 800s - The Slavic tribes are united by the Polanie peoples. 962 - Duke Mieszko I becomes leader and founds the Polish state. He establishes the Piast Dynasty. 966 - The Polish people under Mieszko I adopt Christianity as their state religion. 1025 - The Kingdom of Poland is established. Boleslaw I becomes the first King of Poland. 1385 - Poland and Lithuania unite and form the Polish-Lithuanian union. This is the end of the Piast dynasty and the start of the Jagiellonian dynasty. 1410 - The Polish defeat the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Grunwald. The Golden Age of Poland begins. 1493 - The first Polish parliament is established. 1569 - The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is formed by the Union of Lublin. 1573 - Religious toleration is guaranteed by the Warsaw Confederation. The Jagiellonian dynasty comes to an end.

1596 - The capital of Poland is moved from Krakow to Warsaw. 1600s - A series of wars (Sweden, Russia, Tatars, Turks) brings the Poland's Golden Age to an end. Battle of Grunwald 1683 - King Sobieski defeats the Turks at Vienna. 1772 - A weakened Poland is divided between Prussia, Austria, and Russia in what is called the First Partition. 1791 - Poland establishes a new constitution with liberal reforms. 1793 - Russia and Prussia invade and once again divide Poland into the Second Partition. 1807 - Napoleon invades and conquers the region. He establishes the Duchy of Warsaw. 1815 - Poland comes under the control of Russia. 1863 - The Polish revolt against Russia, but they are defeated. 1914 - World War I begins. The Polish join Austria and Germany in the fight against Russia. 1917 - The Russian Revolution takes place. 1918 - World War I ends with Poland becoming an independent nation. Jozef Pilsudski becomes the leader of the Second Polish Republic.

World War II Troops 1926 - Pilsudski makes himself dictator of Poland in a military coup. 1939 - World War II begins when Germany invades Poland from the west. The Soviet Union then invades from the east. Poland is divided between Germany and the Soviet Union. 1941 - German concentration camps are built throughout Poland including Auschwitz and Treblinka. Millions of Jews are killed in Poland as part of the Holocaust . 1943 - Jews living in the Warsaw Ghetto fight against the Nazis in an uprising. 1944 - The Polish resistance takes control of Warsaw. However, the Germans burn the city to the ground in response. 1945 - World War II comes to an end. Russians invade, pushing the German army out of Poland. 1947 - Poland becomes a communist state under the rule of the Soviet Union. 1956 - Protests and riots against Soviet rule occur in Poznan. Some reforms are granted. 1970 - People in Gdansk protest the price of bread.

55 protesters are killed in what is known as "Bloody Tuesday." 1978 - Karol Wojtyla is elected pope of the Catholic church. He becomes Pope John Paul II. Lech Walesa 1980 - The Solidarity trade union is established by Lech Walesa. Ten million workers join. 1981 - The Soviet Union imposes martial law to put an end to Solidarity. Lech Walesa is imprisoned. 1982 - Lech Walesa wins the Nobel Peace Prize. 1989 - Elections are held and a new government is formed. 1990 - Lech Walesa is elected President of Poland. 1992 - The Soviet Union begins removing troops from Poland. 2004 - Poland becomes a member of the European Union. Brief Overview of the History of Poland The history of Poland as a country begins with the Piast dynasty and Poland's first king Meisko I. King Meisko adopted Christianity as the national religion. Later, during the 14th century, the Polish kingdom reached its peak under the rule of the Jagiellonian dynasty. Poland united with Lithuania and created the powerful Polish-Lithuanian kingdom.

For the next 400 years the Polish-Lithuanian union would be one of the most powerful states in Europe. One of the great battles of Poland occurred during this time when the Polish defeated the Teutonic Knights at the 1410 Battle of Grunwald. Eventually the dynasty ended and Poland was divided up in 1795 between Russia, Austria, and Prussia. Pope John Paul II After World War I, Poland became a country again. Polish independence was the 13th of United States President Woodrow Wilson's famous 14 points. In 1918 Poland officially became an independent country. During World War II, Poland was occupied by Germany. The war was devastating to Poland. Around six million Polish people were killed during the war, including around 3 million Jewish people as part of the Holocaust. After the war, the Communist Party took control of Poland and Poland became a puppet state of the Soviet Union. Upon the collapse of the Soviet Union Poland began to work towards a democratic government and a free market economy. In 2004 Poland joined the European Union. More Timelines for World Countries:

Question: In which Polish city was the Solidarity union formed in 1989?
Answer: Gdansk